TODD S. PURDUM is a journalist and author with more than 40 years’ experience writing about politics, history, popular culture, and national affairs. He is a former staff writer and California correspondent for The Atlantic. Purdum was a senior writer at Politico, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, and spent 23 years with The New York Times, where he covered politics from city hall to the White House. Purdum is the author of four books, including the latest, Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television, published in June 2025. He is also the author of Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution, and An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Purdum lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Dee Dee Myers.

Fotografía: Jeffrey MacMillan